The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (62 page)

A
lthough
Mr. Lincoln
once again took up residence in the
Opera House
’s gorgeous theater,
Disneyland:  The First 50 Magical Years
is so popular that it’s still shown to Guests in the
Opera House
’s grand lobby.  Guests stand, or sit on a limited number of comfortable benches, and watch the show as it loops on a video screen.

The
lobby’s
Disneyland
artifacts alone make it worth taking time to pop into the
Opera House
.  A well-dressed, immaculately tailored Cast Member greets you as you enter the
Opera House
; you turn right and pass through a turnstile to enter the grand lobby space.  There you’ll find a treasure trove of
Disneyland
memorabilia and ephemera.

You
might see tickets from the old
Disneyland
ticket system, back when Guests purchased separate tickets for each attraction, or entire ticket books, in addition to the park admission.  (That’s how the term
E-ticket
was coined; Guests had to buy
E-tickets
for amazing experiences like the
Matterhorn Bobsleds
.)

There are maps and models of the park in various stages of development,
including a massive model of the original
Disneyland
, and you might see Cast Member Costumes through the years, a fascinating rendering of the
Splash Mountain
complex, and so much more.  Displays change periodically.

In addition to its beautifully appointed lobby
, displays, and attractions, the
Opera House
block hosts various shops and amenities.  An ATM and Rest Rooms are accessible in the south side of the block.  The
Opera House
lobby now connects to the relocated
Disney Gallery
that opened just south of the
Opera House
entrance, in the former
Annual Passport Processing Center
and
Main Street Bank
space, and the relocated
Disneyana
.  Finally, the
Mad Hatter Shop
occupies the northwest corner of the block. 
Did You Know?
  A bit of trivia:  There’s a broad gate blocking the road that angles northeast out of
Town Square
, between the
Mad Hatter Shop
and
Celebration Custom Printers
.  Known as
Egghouse Gate
(due to its proximity to the former
American Egg House Restaurant
, now;
Celebration Customer Printers
and a character meet-and-greet area), this gate is a corridor into the southeast
backstage
quadrant of the park.  You’ll rarely see this gate open; it’s only opened to allow entry or exit for parades. 
FastPass:
  No.  The experience is self-guided.  No
FastPass
is needed. 
Kid’s Eye View:
  [
Disneyland:  The First 50 Magical Years
is] a cute movie if you like
Donald
because he hosts it with
Steve Martin
.

Disneyland Railroad
(Main Street Station)
  (
Opening Day
Attraction)

[
FastView:
 
A Guest favorite and must-ride.  Stops include
New Orleans Square
,
Toontown
,
Tomorrowland
, and
Main Street
, with a couple of trips back in time (way back in time!).  Or take the
Grand Circle Tour
of
Disneyland
and see the entire park!
]

The
Disneyland Railroad
was an
Opening Day
attraction in 1955, and it’s been circling the happiest place on earth every day since.

To some degree
Disneyland
owes its existence to the
Disneyland Railroad
. 
Walt
loved trains, and had built a small engine that navigated his back yard in
Holmby Hills
.  He wanted to build a larger one.  That was part (but only part) of the inspiration for a theme park; the train had to have
something
to circle!

Walt
’s desire to build a larger-scale “train set” was inextricably tied to his concept for a clean, imaginative theme park.  At every stage of the park design, even back in the early stages when it was to be a tiny venue near
Walt
’s
Riverside Drive
studios, there was to be a train.

In the
1953
Herb Ryman
illustration that
Roy
used to enlist financial backers, the location of
Disneyland
’s main train station, and the track route, is rendered almost exactly as it would be built.  The large, handsome
Main Street Train Station
was always going to have a tall tower and was always going to be flanked by two covered loading platforms for Guests.  It was to sit atop a modest hill, and both the hillock and the train station would
conceal the park from approaching Guests
, so that once they emerged from the tunnels and saw
Main Street
and the distant castle, Guests would be thunderstruck.

The scope and detail of the station hint
s to Guests of the amazing scale of the fully realized, imaginative world beyond, but isn’t be so grand as to overawe. 
Walt
wanted Guests to have a choice of entering the park via one of two narrow tunnels beneath the station.  The tunnels lead Guests into the first of many pleasant “Wow!” reveal moments as they emerge in the beauty of
Disneyland
’s
Main Street
.

By th
e time that
Walt
and
Ryman
crafted the famous illustration,
Walt
had a crystal clear idea of the functional and thematic roles the
Disneyland Railroad
would serve.  In practical terms, the trains would ferry Guests around the park, providing useful transportation, but on
Main Street
the trains would also be a sort of time machine, carrying Guests back to the “wonder moment” of late Victorian America.

When you queue to enter
Disneyland Park
’s
Main Turnstiles
, you see beyond the turnstiles a meticulously landscaped hill and the grand, cheerful brick
Main Street Train Station
standing upon it.  The station’s tower clock presents precise
Disney
time; synchronize your watches!  Patriotic red-white-and-blue bunting stirs in the breeze.  The station’s large
Disneyland
sign informs you that the population is six-hundred and fifty million souls, the elevation 138 feet.  The
Main Street Train Station
and the seasonal
Mickey
flower bed on the hillside below it greet all Guests.

You don’t have to go inside the station to enjoy it.  Sit on one of the many benches on the terraces outside it, sip your coffee and watch the pageantry of
Town Square
and
Main Street
unfold below.  If you can find a seat, this is a terrific–if somewhat distant–vantage point for
Disneyland Parades
and
Fireworks
.  Even from here, you can see
Tinker Bell
fly across the night sky.

If you do venture into t
he station, you’ll appreciate how authentic it feels, inside and out.  Note the old-fashioned benches, trunks, scale, and other rail-related treasures.  You’ve stepped through a veil into a different time and place.

L
ook for the replica of the
Lilly Belle
(named for
Walt
’s beloved wife), from the miniature but once fully functioning train that
Walt
designed and drove around his back yard well before
Disneyland
was built. 
Walt
had a lifelong fascination and association with trains, and friends and staffers like
Ward Kimball
introduced him to backyard rail as an entertaining stress-buster.

Walt
’s backyard train could carry only a handful of his guests around their property at one time, but in old photos and footage, it sure looks like everyone had fun!

Years later, at
Disneyland
,
Walt
would have a much bigger train set for his Guests to enjoy!

Guests can wait for the next
Disneyland Railroad Train
on either the east or west platforms.  Trains chug into the station every five to twenty minutes, depending upon the season and time of day.  (Expect less frequent train service off season.)  Expect long wait times to board even with frequent train service on particularly crowded days.

Whether you wait five minutes or twenty to board, it’s an exciting moment
, especially for the kids, when you hear the whistle and one of the
Disneyland
trains pulls into the station.  Have your camera ready to snap the cheerful, smiling engineer, his or her face wreathed with steam from the smokestack.  (Green types, take heart; it’s all
Disney
illusion.  The trains
actually
run on environmentally friendly green fuel:  Biodiesel, that is, repurposed cooking oil.)

Station Cast Members
direct detraining Guests toward the exits, then open the gates and allow Guests onto the loading platform.  They’ll guide you toward the train cars that have empty seats available.  Some train cars have benches facing outward (“holidays”), some facing forward (“excursions”).  There are pros and cons to each configuration.

Outward facing seats allow everyone a great view of the park scenery, but you’ll find yourself climbing over other Guests to enter and exit the car, and other Guests will be clambering over you
.  Forward-facing benches are shorter and easier to enter and exit, but the view for Guests seated on the left (near the park’s encircling
berm
) presents a far less interesting prospect for most of the journey than the view for Guests seated on the right. (facing into the park).

Whatever the design of the train car you board,
small children need to sit between adults and should be watched carefully.  Please don’t seat your children near the openings on either side of the car.  This is especially important because there are no seat belts or restraints on the railroad cars.

Usually one of the trains pulls a
caboose with a lush Victorian interior, wine-hued upholstery, exquisite glass, and brass fittings and accoutrements.  This very special car is dubbed the
Lilly Belle
, again named for
Walt
’s wife, whom he clearly adored, and is not used by Guests; it’s reserved for
Disney
execs and gala events as authorized by park brass.  Although you can’t ride in it, if you happen to get close to it, peek inside for a moment to appreciate the lavish interior.

The caboose may be off-limits, but i
f your train is the
C.K. Holliday
or the
E.P. Ripley
, ask a Cast Member if you and a companion can ride up front with the engineer on the two jump seats.

Once
all Guests are safely seated, the train whistle blows and you hear the deep-voiced narrator make the thrilling announcement:  “Your attention, please.  The
Santa Fe Disneyland
passenger train, the
E.P. Ripley
(or
Fred G. Gurley
, or
C.K. Holliday
, or
Ernest S. Marsh
or
Ward Kimball
) now loading on track number one for a trip around
Walt Disney
’s
Magic Kingdom
.  All aboard!”

This
brief announcement encapsulates the way that
Disneyland
interacts with its Guests: courteous but direct, descriptive yet economical with words.  During your stay you’ll note repeatedly that signs, symbols and verbal instructions are always warm but to-the-point.

Regarding the engine names: 
Gurley
,
Holliday
,
Marsh
, and
Ripley
were big wheels at the
Santa Fe Railroad
, the entity which originally sponsored the
Disneyland Railroad
. 
Ward Kimball
was the aforementioned animator and
Imagineer
who sparked
Walt
’s passion for small-scale trains.